A couple of years back, Naxos
issued a wonderful compilation of tracks by
the greatest of comedy songsters, Danny Kaye
[review].
Yours truly, however, bemoaned the absence
of one item in particular – the great, the
remarkable, the INCOMPARABLE Tubby the Tuba!
Naxos heard my cry, and promised it was on
its way. And, would you believe it, here it
is on track 4, complete with Signor Pizzicato,
Peepo the Piccolo, the baritone bullfrog,
and of course poor despised Tubby himself,
all brought to life in George Kleinsinger’s
delightful musical tale.

There are a couple of lesser-known
spin-offs too; ‘The Tubby the Tuba Song’,
a shortened version of the same tale, and
‘Tubby the Tuba at the Circus’ on track 9.
This is a similar length to the original,
and though like most spin-offs, it’s not quite
as good as its model, DK’s many voices are
nonetheless deployed to great effect as usual.
The elephant’s song ‘Be Yourself’ is a great
number too.

There is a clutch of songs
from successful films – ‘The Ugly Duckling’
and ‘The King’s New Clothes’ from Hans
Christian Andersen, and ‘I’m Late’ and
‘The Walrus and the Carpenter’ from (I believe,
though I would welcome corroboration) Walt
Disney’s Alice in Wonderland.

Many of the tracks, though,
are just straightforward silly children’s
songs, several written for him by his wife
Sylvia Fine. These include the tongue-twisting
‘There’s a hole at the bottom of the sea’
on track 1 (strongly recommended to all primary
school teachers!), Popo the Puppet, and the
final track, another extended musical fable,
‘The Court Jester’, with its brave hero The
Fox, and the Terrible, Dreadful, Horrible
King. It also has a meltingly beautiful little
lullaby ‘Behind the Rainbow’. Then there are
other favourites such as ‘The Little White
Duck’ and ‘All I want for Christmas is my
two front teeth’.

I can guarantee these nostalgic
but evergreen songs will banish those winter
blues in the most effortless and entertaining
way possible – treat yourself!

Gwyn Parry-Jones
I can guarantee these nostalgic but evergreen
songs will banish those winter blues in the
most effortless and entertaining way possible
– treat yourself! ... see Full Review